From Aug. 23-25, 2010, an international contest for Police Special Forces was held in Györ, Hungary. In all, 17 teams coming from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and the Austrian task force Einsatzkommando (EKO) Cobra from Austria were participating in this competition.
The competition took place under stringent conditions, which became clear when moving into the accommodations. The competing teams were housed on a small area in tents with camp beds and sleeping bags in the local special unit base.
The competition lasted for three days and consisted of 11 very selective shooting- and tactical-competitions under extremely straining physical conditions. The competitions were especially challenging because of a number of additional tasks such as canoeing, roping, military style obstacle course, rescuing of injured persons and the use of heavy equipment (ballistic vests, helmets, ABC-masks).
The team of the EKO Cobra was ranked first (6 of 11 competitions were won), proving the high level of performance in a big variety of tasks in comparison with very strong competitors.
The awarding ceremony was held on the Old Town Square in a graceful ambiance under the patronage of the police chief of Györ. The ceremony was also attended by high-ranking representatives of the Hungarian and Austrian interior ministry and numerous Hungarian spectators. The hundreds of attendants were impressed by a demonstration of the local special unit supported by a helicopter.
All in all, this was a hard-fought but deserved victory for the EKO Cobra in a professionally organized international competition.
